Bar Maria
by cornbreadkent
Summary: Levi runs into a brat on his way back from lunch break, and ends up getting way more into the green-eyed boy's life than he intends. With the interference of Hange only adding to the strange things going on with the short-tempered male, things take a turn for the humorous. Band AU, semi-slow build.
1. Pet Peeve

He was just some brat. Honestly. Just a random boy that didn't even look old enough to have graduated high school. It was rare enough for Levi to give more than a glare, but he actually looked up from his feet as he was put off balance from someone bumping into him. An irritated and intimidated expression was completely wiped off of his face when he saw green.

Green. That was it. He was surprised he even realized that the brunette's stumbling, pathetic attempt at English was some form of an apology. When Levi realized he couldn't find it in himself to look away, he tried instead to regain his usual expression of indifference, but he got no further than crinkling his eyebrows together in confusion at his reaction to this one boy.

Apparently, this boy with the green eyes couldn't get himself to shut up long enough for Levi to interject with a word or two, although the small man's focus was still scattered enough for Levi to wonder if he would even be able to get in a word or two if the one across from him would stop talking. Finally, when Levi deemed that enough of himself had been regained, he simply cut the boy off. He had a foggy, insignificant idea of what the tall, tan boy was saying; something along the lines of how he missed the bus and really had to be somewhere.

"Don't worry about it, kid. Just get to school."

The other's eyes flickered with something close to confusion and a little bit of insult. "I'm not a high school student. I'm on my way to my job."

Levi barely kept his eyebrows from shooting up. He almost commented on how young the other looked, but but decided (and this was virtually unheard of from Levi) he didn't want to insult the green-eyed boy any further. The stoic man didn't understand what was going on with him at the moment; he shouldn't care about this kid. But, he still found his mouth moving on it's own, asking questions that should be insignificant.

"What's your job?"

Green eyes lit up, and Levi found his composure slipping away from him. The effect those eyes had on him had just been starting to wear off until he pulled that stunt, and Levi cursed himself as he realized just how expressive the brat was.

"I'm in a band that plays for anything that will take us, pretty much."

"Doesn't sound like much of a job to me," Levi deadpanned. He watched with interest as the boy's expression turned into one close to fear.

"No! I mean, yes, it is. Sort of." He struggled with words as he did his best to explain himself. "We play Thursdays through Sundays at Bar Maria."

"Are you even old enough to be in there?" Levi realized a second too late that he was asking another question about his age, and wondered if he would get offended again. And then Levi realized that his question wasn't even serious; he was _teasing _the kid. And at that point Levi was questioning his mental health.

His eyes changed, again, and Levi forgot what he had been worried about. This time, the were indignant, maybe even annoyed. "I'm about to turn twenty-one!"

Cold, grey eyes passed over the other again, taking him in in a new light. The only thing he caught that was evident to the brat's age was his height, which towered over Levi's. It was strange how he hadn't even compared their heights, especially since Levi could be a little touchy over such things. Leaning a little toward lanky with a childish, round face, Levi realized that yes, he still looked like a fucking teenager. But the vibe he got from this kid went deeper than just his appearance.

He wondered just what could make this kid so innocent, with the way his eyes were so expressive and anyone with common sense could read him like a book. For a moment, he considered the option that the boy was a liar about his age. _No_, he realized. His expressions were too real, his reactions to his age too sincere. Then it hit him.

This boy, standing right in front of him, with his green eyes and messy hair who was quick to jump to anger, was a virgin.

And Levi found this realization hilarious.

Suddenly, the entire situation was hilarious. This boy had bumped into him, seemingly in a rush to get to his "job" after missing the bus, caught Levi completely off guard, and then had forgotten his actual job in place of defending his age.

Ocean emerald eyes sparkled with interest and confusion at the older man trying to hold in a smile before flaring up with anger again.

"Look, I know I may look young, but I'm not a fucking high school student, and it's nothing to - "

"What's your name?" Levi cut off, a smile still dominating his face.

The boy's expression changed again (of course) to uncertainty, his head tilted slightly. "What?"

"I said," Levi paused, wiping off his earlier expression of amusement to his usual apathetic gaze. "What's your name?"

He hesitated for a moment before answering: "Eren Jaeger."

Levi lifted an amused eyebrow. "Well, Jaeger, aren't you supposed to be in a rush for work?"

"Oh shit - !" Eren almost made a dash for it, but Levi grabbed a hold of his wrist and effectively yanked him back a couple of feet before he could get away.

"Hold your fucking horses, kid." He moved instead of letting Eren make a comment on the "kid". "I'll drive you to work, since I kept you here."

Levi had expected some amount of refusal at being offered a ride from a practical stranger, but he must have really been a simple-minded, naive idiot (*cough* virgin), because his eyes gained a hopefulness at the idea. "Really? That would be great!" Eren's expression faltered, taking in Levi's suit. "But, how far away is your car? Wouldn't it be too much trouble?"

Snatching his keys out of his pocket, Levi pressed the lock button, resulting in a beeping not twenty feet away. "Come on," he said, gesturing to his car as he walked toward the smooth, black model. After Levi had stepped into the driver's seat, the sharp sound of a car door being shut followed Eren's entrance to the passenger's seat. Levi didn't see Eren gawking as he observed the leather seats and how there seemingly wasn't a speck of dust in the thing, but he heard the awed voice exclaiming, "Your car is really new."

Levi scoffed as he pulled out of the public parking. "I've had this thing for three years. It's not new."

"So, you're a clean freak?"

Levi's eyes flared up in irritation. A few minutes of meeting him, and Eren is already pressing at his buttons. "How about I just take care of my fucking car?" Sure, some people would agree with Eren's observation, but Levi saw it that others should live up to his standards, not the other way around.

The idiot didn't even notice that Levi was pissed off. "So, what about _your _job? It's past noon."

"Think, kid." When he received no response, he rolled his eyes. "Lunch break."

Levi had assumed the conversation was somewhat over as he flicked on his blinker to switch lanes until Eren pouted, "I'm not a kid."

Levi couldn't help it - he let out a small laugh before glancing over at Eren, amusement in his eyes. "Is that really your pet peeve, Jaeger? Being called young?" He turned his eyes back to the road. "Give me fucking directions already, I'm just going where you were before you ran into me."

"Oh. Um, turn right on Cyrus in a few blocks." He glanced over at Levi. "How old are you?"

Levi grunted. "Old enough to sit at a bar, that's for sure." He slowed down as he neared a red light, only for it to turn green before he had the chance to completely stop. "Why do you care?"

Eren blushed, fumbling with his words. "Because you keep going on about _my _age, calling me a kid!"

"Anyone under the age of twenty-five is a kid to me, brat."

Eren slumped into the car seat as he sulked. Apparently, brat wasn't much better.

As Levi made the directed right turn, he realized something. "Oh, yeah. My name is Levi."

"No last name?"

"You want my address, too?" Levi sighed, then smirked. "I'm not stupid enough to give out my full name to strangers, Jaeger." Eren's cheeks filled with color as he realized Levi was teasing him. "Actually, is that even your name? A fucking beer? And give me directions already, you shitty brat." Levi didn't like driving so slow as under the speed limit, especially when on a road where everyone was driving ten above, but he had no idea where he was going, since he didn't go to any bar that he wasn't dragged out to.

Eren reluctantly looked from Levi to in front of him, panic eventually replaced by sheepish nervousness. "Uh… we sort of passed it."

Levi refrained from muttering about how incompetent the brat was before pulling into a gas station and turning around. Honestly, he hates having to turn around in his car, because he feels like an idiot when he does. So instead, he lets out a frustrated sigh. "I offered you a ride; at least take the offer graciously instead of wasting my time."

"Sorry," Eren muttered, sounding like a scolded child caught red-handed. Levi almost rolled his eyes, but actually felt a little bad for lashing out at him. "It's there, on the right."

Levi pulled up to the car and wondered aloud, "Are bars even open this early?"

Eren shrugged. "This one is. It's mostly a pub, I guess." There was a pause as the driver adjusted the A/C, wondering why Eren wasn't getting out yet. He turned to find the other with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"You should come watch."

Levi had to take time to process the question. "You want me to watch you preform in front of drunk idiots at noon?"

Eren was a little insulted, as Levi could tell in his expression. "Well, yeah, I guess." He rushed to explain himself as Levi's expression turned sour. "It would prove to you that it really is a solid job! I make a decent salary, and Bar Maria is a nice place."

He looked over at Eren, skeptical. He glanced at his watch before meeting the pleading eyes again. "You realize I'd only be able to go inside for about five minutes?"

Eren nodded, eager. "Yeah! It's fine, just come inside!"

Levi didn't understand why this was such a big deal to the kid, but he realized there wasn't much point in asking, since he wouldn't actually get the question and say something like, "It's a good job." Instead, he resigned to a sigh and opened the car door, Eren jumping after him like some puppy.

Levi made his way in first, and as soon as Eren walked in afterwards, he was bombarded by cheers from customers.

A lot of customers, actually. Levi wasn't expecting as much as a dozen of people, _maybe_, because who has time out of a Thursday to go to a bar at noon? Half of the people had a drink or food in their hand, and the other half seemed to be there for a reason other than refreshments.

Out of the screaming fans (seemingly the ages varied from mid-teen to adults well into their thirties), a single girl with short, shining, black hair and a cross expression on her face burst from the crowd.

"Eren! We were supposed to start playing twenty minutes ago!" She mad a grab for his ear before tugging him away and scolding him, saying that he can't take care of himself and acts like a child without his mother.

After finding a spot where he could lean against the wall, Levi looked up to find a stage already prepared; drums in the back, a keyboard on the side, two guitars, a bass, and a microphone. Out of the six pieces of equipment, the drums were occupied by a girl who looked almost as if she didn't want to be there, hair in a tight bun and expression sharp. The keyboard was occupied by a blonde who's hair really needed a cut, and one of the guitars were taken up by a freckled brunette with a kind face, who was talking animatedly to said pianist. One of the guitars and the bass were still propped up on their stands, stuck being momentarily useless along with the microphone, just standing at the front center stage with no one near it.

Soon enough, however, yelling and screaming filled the room as the girl form before and Eren scooped up their individual instruments, the girl getting the bass and Eren picking up the guitar before stepping up to the microphone.

Levi raised an eyebrow. He should have guessed that Eren would be the lead singer. Green eyes searched the room before they lit up as they met with Levi's cold, stormy ones, accompanied by a bright smile. _Dammit_, the older man thought. He had begun to think that he was immune to those eyes, especially after making it through the car ride without crashing, but he melted a bit and forgot to keep his eyes stony as they softened.

Luckily, Eren still sucked at reading people. He failed to notice Levi's change in expression, and instead waited for for the signal to start the song, which turned out to be four measured snaps of drumsticks being thwacked together.

The song* began with the freckled boy on the guitar playing some drawn out chords before being accompanied by the whole band, Eren playing the rhythm guitar. After a moment, he began to sing.

_She sits up high surrounded by the sun_

_One million branches and she loves every one_

Levi couldn't exactly say he was impressed, because he was never exactly impressed. But he respected the way Eren and his band members owned the stage. Honestly, he was just glad it wasn't some shitty song from the radio he'd heard the first few seconds of countless times before switching it.

_Mom and dad, did you search for me?_

_I've been up here so long, I'm going crazy!_

Not to say Eren wasn't an excellent singer, but he wasn't necessarily the focus of the group. The blonde girl in the back was rather impressive at the drums, and that brunette on lead guitar really knew what he was doing, along with the bark-haired girl from before who wasn't even looking down at her hands. Hell, even the blonde on the keyboard had a complicated switch of his hands or two. But with Eren's eyes boring into his, it was hard for Levi to look away.

_And as the sun went down_

_We ended up on the ground_

_I heard the train shake the windows_

_You screamed over the sound_

Surprisingly, Levi was actually enjoying the song. He had been expecting some half-assed band in a half-assed bar (and they both probably had been at one point), but this group of kids had seemingly made their place here known. Actually, the song was the kind of one that Levi and his old -

Nope, let's not go there. He shakes the thought away in exchange for listening to the song.

_And as we own this night_

_I put your body to the test with mine_

_This love was out of control_

_Three, two, one, where did it go?_

The song takes a turn in tune as it gets more intense and everyone seems to simultaneously pick up the pace.

_Now, don't be crazy!_

_Yes now, of course you can stay here_

_Been in a touring band for going on ten years_

_"Big deal," she said_

_"I guess you're official"_

_I only said it 'cause I know what it's like to feel_

_Burnt out!_

Levi was a little surprised that Eren could muster up a scream like that. He handn't thought the kid had it in him. People would do it wrong, and it always seemed to put him off, but this was an exception. Maybe because the crowd was vibrating with energy, or because of the bass running through floor and up into his shoes, or because of everyone on the stage who was bouncing on the balls of their feet as if they wanted to run around and dance like the rest.

Or maybe it was those Caribbean eyes.

_It gets you down_

_We've all been there sometimes_

_But tonight_

_I'll make you feel beautiful once again_

_And as the sun went down_

_We ended up on the ground_

_I heard the train shake the windows_

_You screamed over the sound_

The entire place was quite literally bursting with energy at this point. In front of Levi, a swarm of people were pressing against the stage and practically climbing up with the performers, and the back (where he was) was the only place you could stand without someone's elbow digging into your side.

Even if Eren couldn't dance with the rest of them, he was doing a pretty good job of trying. The back of his left foot moved up and down in time with the beat, and he was swinging the neck of his guitar around as if it was a baseball bat.

_And as we own this night_

_I put your body to the test with mine_

_This love was out of control_

_Three, two, one, where did it go?_

The band moved together as they kept the beat intact and slowed back down to what Levi could only assume was the bridge. Even the crowd's energy met that of the slow, sweet music.

_If I were you I'd put that away_

_See, you're just wasted and_

_Thinking 'bout the past again_

_Darling, you'll be okay_

_And she said_

Eren made room for the Asian on the bass as she stepped up to the microphone, demeanor rivaling that of Eren's as she kept calm and collected throughout the ordeal. Eren took a break from staring at Levi and instead watched his fingers run over his instrument as he played.

Her voice stretched out the right syllables and somehow kept in time with an out of time melody.

_If you were me, you'd do the same_

_'Cause I can't take anymore_

_I'll draw the shades and close the door_

_Everything's not alright_

_And I would rather_

The music built up before bursting into a music intermission, and Levi momentarily considered his hearing as the crowd exploded in enthusiasm and cheered for their beloved band at this unknown pub. The freckled brunette on the guitar got his time to shine as he took up a complicated note procedure and put it into action with ease, accompanied by a fast banging of drums before the lyrics started up again.

The music seemingly took a breath before combusting again, and Levi's breath was taken away as he saw green for a second time.

_And as the sun went down_

_We ended up on the ground_

_I heard the train shake the windows_

_You screamed over the sound_

_And as we own this night_

_I put your body to the test with mine_

_This love was out of control!_

_Tell me, where did it go?_

There was a brief, somewhat bittersweet ending to the song before it came to a stop for the first and final time as the audience erupted in cheers.

Eren had that giant, idiotic grin on his face again. His eyes finally met Levi's after combing thorough the crowd and reveling in their satisfaction. Even across the room, Levi could still see that those green orbs held expectation. But the older man just held up his watch before tapping it with the other hand, not letting any of his emotions cross his face simply because that was second nature to him.

Caribbean eyes were confused before he seemingly remembered the conditions Levi had announced before walking into the place. Levi cocked an eyebrow at Eren's fallen expression before the boy nodded, as if giving his approval. Levi parted the cub with a half-wave before cranking up his clean, black car and heading over to work.

* * *

**The song*=Hold On Till May (feat. Lindsey Stamey), Pierce the Veil**

**This is my first story on this account, but I'm not new to the site and this isn't my first story, so there's no need to go easy on me with the reviews. I am, however, new to this fandom. The only stories I've posted before were for Soul Eater, and I've actually been turning to another site when it comes to reading stories for SNK simply because there are more of them there.**

**I realized proofreading this thing that it almost sounds like a one shot. Almost. I can assure you that it isn't, and there will be more chapters. Speaking of which, the next chapter has a lot of Hange. A lot. (She is so fun to write.) Also, warning: I have no idea how to write Erwin. So.**

**There is one concern I have, and that is if the whole band AU thing is working out or if you think it's too overdone. It won't be the focus of the story; I just couldn't get the image of Eren singing this song out of my head. And you might want to keep that part where Levi was thinking about something before cutting off in mind, because what you think I'm implying is probably what I was implying. Hopefully you didn't roll your eyes when you read that.**

**Anyways, this is long enough. Please provide me with feedback, as right now my idea of the story is more abstract than anything. Oh, and seeing as this is an AU it already is pretty implied, but there won't be any spoilers in this fic. I always like to know before I read, since I can't seem to get a hold on the manga series.**

**Finally, if you see any typos, please let me know because those things annoy the shit out of me. Aaaand I'm done.**


	2. Morning Tea

"Come on! Live a little!"

"I doubt that going to some unknown bar will improve the fucking quality of my life, four-eyes."

"You'll see! It's really a good place."

"I've learned from firsthand experience that blindly trusting you isn't in my best interest."

Brown eyes behind thick glasses morphed into a sad puppy. "Just this once? Please?"

Cold grey eyes stared mercilessly back. "No."

"Erwin!" Hange whined, changing her attention over to the blonde next to her. "Levi is being so mean today."

The carbon-copy of Captain America smiled as he continued to work on his project, clicking away at the black laptop. "This was to be expected, Hange."

Levi rolled his eyes. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

As determined as always, Hange grabbed onto Levi's arm, which the short man instantly shook off. "But Levi! They have such a nice band that plays there, and the lead singer is soooo cute!"

The stoic man froze, giving his subordinate a strange look. "Wait. Are you talking about that Maria place down by the center?"

Enlarged eyes lit up. "Yeah! Have you been there?"

Our protagonist suddenly found himself with a headache. "I guess you could say that." Erwin caught Levi's worn expression at the mention of the place, seeing as he tends to be observant towards others (and had somehow managed to learn the many expressions and moods that are Levi), but decided not to comment as the short man rubbed his thumbs against their respective temples. "Why the fuck would you want me to go there, of all places?"

"It's exciting! And personally," her voice dropped, as if sharing a secret, "I think the singer and you would get along well!"

Levi wanted to bash her head in. "Oh my fucking God, Hange, don't play shitty matchmaker on me." Especially since Levi has already seen the kid who is, quite literally, a kid.

"No, really! I've met him, and he is absolutely adorable, with a nice round face and the biggest, most expressive eyes I've seen in a _looooooooong_ time. Nothing like you, really." Said man rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time.

"Thanks for the boost, I appreciate it."

She continued on as if she hadn't heard him. Honestly, she most likely hadn't. "Not gonna lie, his fashion sense sucks. And he's a goof, and he gets ahead of himself. And he gets _really _pissed off if you push the right buttons—that's one thing you two have in common, actually—but he's got this tan skin, and it's so fun to tease him; he's so cute when he's flustered!" Levi had been half-listening from the beginning, but this was just getting tiring. And he knows the kid, which means he's already got a pretty good grasp on the subject.

"But his _eyes_! I can't do them justice." The speckled woman's glasses gleamed. "You know how in books they go on and on about eyes? Personally, I don't even _notice _people's eye color unless I make it a chore of some kind, but with Eren it would take anyone by—"

"Hange, I get it. He sounds great, now shut the fuck up." Levi's eyebrow was starting to twitch from hearing his coworker go on like this for so long, and it didn't exactly help when Erwin chuckled at their interactions.

She was practically vibrating as she asked, "Can we go tomorrow, or the day after? They preform Fridays through Sundays, if I remember correctly." Levi had to bite his tongue to avoid correcting her. "Maybe if we left now we could make it!" Her eyes shone with the new prospect in mind. "That's a great idea! Let's go now!"

This time, Levi found it in his best interest to ignore the woman. Glancing at his watch, he realized that there was hardly any time left for going to the damn place, anyways. He decided that Hange was just special, and wondered why the hell he was acquaintances with her in the first place, all the way back from when they were in college.

Levi quickly deterred his thoughts from college, because that's a dangerous place for anyone sitting at their established nine-to-five job seven years later.

Not offering an explanation, the raven haired man stood from his chair and took his leave back to his office with a window viewing the lake just outside (that he sometimes looked out of). When Hange wouldn't shut it, he eventually mentioned that he actually works at his job, and intends to do so. The monotonic clicking of his keyboard kept Levi's day from being any more than normal.

* * *

Levi isn't a morning person, as people peg him to be (along with having a constant stick up his ass), and Levi doesn't think he'll honestly meet a real morning person for as long as he lives. But the short man still refuses to sleep in late on a Saturday because he honestly feels like he's wasting time when he does that, but mostly because of how grimy he feels after a night of sleep. So after he gets up and takes a shower, he no longer feels the tug of sleep.

Today was a rare one, though. Levi found himself awake at 11:23am. The light wasn't in his eyes as it usually was when he woke up, seeing as the sun was above him at this time of day rather than slanting in through his window.

After a thorough cleaning in the shower, the man stepped out and felt that small sense of accomplishment as he got dressed and was completely ready for the day, even if it happened to be closer to the afternoon than the morning.

The most ritualistic part of his morning, by far, was his morning tea. After filling the metal kettle and placing it onto the gas stove in his kitchen, he made a grab for the leaves belonging to a green tea from somewhere in China. Tea had been so ingrained into his being that he knew what he wanted before he knew what he wanted.

Padding around in socks, Levi had the natural instinct (as many do) to check his phone for any alerts or messages. Even as he was walking from the kitchen to his room, he heard the obnoxious rattle of his phone vibrating on a hard surface and it almost made him groan. 95% of experience pointed towards the sender being a nosy woman with glasses and he did not appreciate it when that turned out to be just the outcome.

"Twenty-three messages," he growled under his breath, groaning when he saw that it was really just one consecutive message broken up into smaller pieces. "Are you fucking serious, Hange?"

He didn't even bother with that, pulling up her contact and pressing the call button. Phone against his ear, he headed back over to the kitchen to keep an eye on his tea.

Hange picked up on the first ring, which proceeded to irritate Levi further. All this was only made worse by how he could hardly make out her voice with all of the commotion in the background.

"Levi! Did you … running out of … did want …"

"Hange, I can't hear a fucking word out of your mouth."

"What?"

Levi felt that familiar pressure between his eyebrows. Hange has to figure this shit out herself, and he absolutely refuses to scream into his phone like an idiot.

"… I don't … better?"

He almost sighed as the commotion of… _whatever _that was faded and Levi propped an elbow up on his kitchen counter. "Yeah, that's better. Now what the fuck do you want?"

"You _need _to join us! Everyone is having the time of their life and you're holed up in your apartment drinking tea!"

Levi grunted, a little pissed off at how well she knew what he was doing. "Maybe when I drink tea I'm having the time of my life."

"Oh, don't be like that! Come on, we're all waiting for you!"

He rolled his grey eyes. "Forget that. I'm not dragging my ass out to some bar at noon." He couldn't help but think how familiar those words coming out of his mouth were. "How about you enjoy your Saturday and I enjoy mine?" It wasn't really question.

"But Heichou!" she whined.

A black aura surrounded the short man at the memories the name conjured up. "Don't call me that." Why had he not hung up on her yet?

"Don't hang up!" she exclaimed desperately, as if reading his mind. "Can you please just come down here? Only for an hour, and then you can tea away in your gloomy apartment for the rest of your Saturday. Deal?"

"No."

He could imagine Hange getting exasperated and pushing her glasses farther up her nose. "Seriously, Levi. Please just come down?"

When did Hange learn how to tone down her excitement? And why was it making Levi feel so guilty? He took his time to answer, running his hand through his hair at least three times in the span of ten seconds before standing still and continuing to run it through his head. An hour would be pretty doable, he deemed, but the thing was a toss-up of whether or not it would be worth it to hang out the entire time. As many knew, patience was not one of Levi's strong points. But, truth be told, the band Eren was in wasn't actually that bad. At least, his ears hadn't bled.

The line was met with another ten seconds of silence.

He hated to admit it, but (fuck, he _really _hated to admit it) Hange was his friend. Her crazy demeanor somehow rivaled his admittedly dull one, and she somehow stuck up with him being the prick he was. And there she was, inviting him somewhere, and he had immediately turned her down, which in itself was rude. And now that he thought about it, he'd actually flat-out rejected her multiple times. The annoyance of her not seeming to realize his objections had turned into him not realizing her angelic patience.

Well, shit. Hange had done the impossible and put Levi through the experience of actual feelings. A round of applause, please.

"Fine." The celebratory sound coming from Hange's end of the line was not unexpected, and he was suddenly faced with the certain image of a passerby questioning the speckled brunette's sanity. "Only one hour, okay? I'm dead serious. If you try to keep me there any longer I'll shove your glasses up your ass."

Her giggles were unrestrained, and for a moment Levi wondered if she had been planning this. "Eloquent as ever, Levi. See you in fifteen minutes!"

She hung up.

* * *

No matter how much of a rush Levi was in, he was not going to miss out on his morning(ish) Saturday tea. Slipping the substance into a ceramic mug from Starbucks, it looked like coffee. Damn, did Levi despise coffee, and if people chose that bitter as fuck shit over the mouth-watering, miracle-inducing beverage that is tea, that fuck up is on them and their priorities.

So, he sipped on his hot tea at the stop lights and when a road was straight, and by the time he had made it to the bar his cup was empty and he felt much better about life in general. Fuck everyone else—tea _can _wake you up, and contrary to popular belief, it _can_ be caffeinated. All of those coffee-drinking hipster shits can suck on their stereotypes regarding the beautiful thing that makes up the majority of Levi's soul.

He walked through the singular door to Bar Maria and was forced to remember just how crowded the place was at… "rush hour", or whatever this could be called. And Hange hadn't taken care to position near the back, as he would have preferred, but rather at a table closer to the dead-center of the room than anything else. Luckily, the stage wasn't being swarmed as there wasn't any band currently on it. Levi quickly concluded they were taking a break, and thanked his luck that he could reach the table easily.

Hange was the first to notice him, of course, greeting the man with a pounce and a ruffle of his hair that had Levi glaring daggers at her (that she was seemingly impervious to). Levi liked to think that if he were taller he would have more of an effect on the woman.

Shoving the woman off of him and sitting down in one of the empty chairs, he took in the rest of the people sitting at the table. Nearest him, he identified Petra, Nanaba, and Erwin, which were actually less people than he had anticipated. However, on the other side of the table were some kids that he didn't recognize, the number of them more than doubling the size of the people he knew.

Except… that one with her hair in her bun looked familiar. And the feminine blonde boy who still needed a haircut, too.

Wait—they're from the band. If they're here, and no one is on stage, then where the hell is—

"Levi, I would like you to meet Eren!" He turned his head in the direction of Hange's voice and somehow kept his cool even when he was faced with gorgeous green eyes and messy brown hair. Eren seemed all the taller when Levi was sitting and Eren was standing.

After a moment that was probably a tad too long, Levi announced, "We've met."

Hange looked shocked, and a bit disappointed. "Whaaat? Really? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't need to know."

Her pout became prominent. "Are you keeping secrets from me?" Levi just rolled his eyes.

He hadn't been expecting much from Eren, especially since from what he had gathered the kid wasn't the most socially adept human being, but he was all up for getting in Levi's space, leaning down so that he was eye level.

"What did you think? Last time you just left, didn't even—" Eren shook his head, cutting himself off. "Hange said you could stay for an hour. Is that true?"

"Yes, it's true, now could you back up a little?" In all honestly, Levi didn't really want him to back away (and he refused to question why), but saying such things had become a major part of Levi's conversation pattern.

Even through Levi's internal conflict, he didn't move an inch, the little brat. His face turned into an expression of determination much too strong for such a simple matter. "What did you think?"

Levi knew what he was really asking for was Levi's acceptance of their band. "It's okay." The older man didn't bat an eye at Eren's fallen expression. "How the hell am I supposed to know with only one song?"

"Don't get your hopes up, Eren. The only thing Levi likes is tea." Levi sent Erwin a death glare that had absolutely no affect on the man as he _tipped his fucking glass at him—_

Suddenly Hange was restraining the short man. "Whoa, now, no murders at the social gathering," she said, an obvious smile in her voice. It stayed even as Levi shoved her off with a sharp, "Don't fucking touch me."

Eventually Levi's attention returned to the green-eyed brat, and he was met with an amused expression. He was tempted to ask Eren why the fuck he was smiling, but he had a pretty good idea why. With a great amount of self-control, he somehow managed to keep his mouth shut and let it go.

"So, you stayed for a song?" Hange's face was suddenly far too close and Levi didn't hesitate to press his hand against her and push her away by the bridge of her nose. She didn't seem to care. "When was this? It's rare for you to go places by yourself." Although Hange was wrong on that account, he really had no desire to correct her or explain the situation. And the eccentric woman probably knew this from the get-go, but she still continued to pester him with pellets of question.

Finally, she simply turned to Eren. "So? How'd it happen?"

He seemed a little flustered at having Hange's sudden piercing glare on him, and more so when Levi turned his passive, cold look onto him, as if daring Eren to somehow fuck up. Which is what Levi was doing, actually.

He turned back into a form resembling the blubbering mess he had been when Eren had initially bumped into Levi days prior for the first sentence or two before his language smoothed out and he could speak like a normal person. Levi used the excuse later that he already knew the story to explain why he had zoned and taken particular interest in Eren's facial structure.

Thinking about it then, Levi realized it was a bit strange that he hadn't been overwhelmed by green like he had in the first few seconds they'd met and multiple times afterwards. And somehow Levi found the childish, round shape of his cheeks to be attractive, and the messy eyebrows didn't bother him—although that might have been because he was so used to Erwin's caterpillars. But somehow even Eren's _nose_ looked good on him, and Levi is _not_ the type of person to walk around commenting on how cute that person's nose was, or that other person walking by with the blue pumps. It was a strange experience to realize he was praising Eren's nose, for sure.

But he was quickly distracted by Eren's lips. Holy fucking shit. The hormones in this kid's body had done him well, because they were plump and full and _pink_. Levi wondered if he was the kind of person who had never discovered chap-stick, and thought about whether it would feel soft or dry—maybe even moist from who-knows-what, and let's not let Levi's imagination go too far on that one, thank you.

If it wasn't for Levi's fixation on Eren's mouth he might have missed it when the brat finished talking, and who knew how long it had been since he'd started. Enough for Levi's mind to drift into unsafe waters, that's for sure.

He turned his gaze over to Hange and almost shuddered as he was met dead-on by Hange's intense look. The knowing look she was giving him did not make him feel better about the situation.

"Well, that is just fascinating!" she exclaimed, finally turning away and giving the man room to breathe. "I'm surprised Levi didn't smash your brains in when you snapped at him, honestly." And another knowing look at Levi. "I wonder what stopped him."

Levi narrowed his eyes at her. _Oh, fuck you, too,_ was the message ingrained into his entire being at that moment in some unknown bar with the smell of alcohol and fries surrounding the place.

Suddenly the Asian who had dragged Eren off to perform appeared beside the German boy, and Levi was left wondering where the fuck she had come from as she informed Eren that they had to get ready to play again.

Eren parted with a smile and a "Bye, Levi" that shouldn't have filled him up with as many foreign feelings as it did. Meanwhile, Hange just watched with a level of amusement and mischief Levi would learn to fear in due time.

* * *

**As you can tell, Levi feels very strongly about his tea.**

**It is one of my strong beliefs that Hange can see right through Levi when she wants to, and as we all know, she tends to poke her nose into everybody's business. That is literally the idea I went off of for this entire chapter.**

**Next chapter will have even more Eren and Levi interaction than before, so you can look forward to that. And some serious memories concerning Levi's loved college life he refuses to acknowledge will come into play as well. Also, I've had some serious thinking time, and I think this will last around 10-15 chapters. I'll try by best to upload once every week or so, but you seriously shouldn't hold me to that, especially since school starts for me on the eighteenth. Like, high school. Wish me luck, although you can be sure the first week won't hold that much work for me or anyone else because it's the first damn week of school.**

**Please review, if you have the time. I'm open to any feedback whatsoever, and if a typo is bothering you tell me, because it would probably be bothering me, too.**

**Anyways, third chapter will be up in the next six to ten days, probably. Tight schedules aren't for me. Sorry if this bothers you.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	3. Dirty Dishes

***hides***

* * *

Hange's house was really just an absolute mess. Socks and trash were stuck between the openings in the couch, items of clothes hung on the doorknobs, her sink was absolutely filled with dirty dishes, and every surface was covered in magazines, plants, books, and groceries Hange was seemingly too lazy to put away immediately and _fuck_ if that isn't disgusting.

Worse yet, Levi seemed to be the first person there, including the presence of Hange herself. Although, after a moment of reconsideration, he decided that Hange's absence was actually one of the few pros at the moment.

Normally, he would take off his shoes like a civilized fucking being, but he could probably lick the sidewalk and get fewer diseases than letting his socks come in contact with this place. A look of absolute irritation and disgust on his face, the short man carefully stepped over a neon pink stain on her carpet. Honestly, how does someone stain a dark grey carpet such an obnoxious color? Honestly, though, he had expected nothing else from shitty glasses.

Hange is an exception to all of the wrong things.

Levi went back outside to grab his gloves from his car and get to work.

* * *

Even if the presence of uncleanliness gave Levi a twitch like nothing else can, the process of actually cleaning left his mind blissfully blank. And even though the presence of Hange gave Levi a headache like nothing else, it really kicked into gear when she opened her mouth to let loose the inner workings of her mind.

The door had clicked open and a gasp had filled the room, and Levi ignored it.

Then she opened her mouth.

"See, I told you! He's like a little housemaid!"

Headache incoming. "Shut the hell up, four-eyes. You should be damn grateful." He focused his energy in getting out some particularly stubborn stain in a soup bowl. What kind of substance even exists that dries like that? Was he going to have to scrape the damn stuff off?

"Of course I am! What would I do without you?"

Levi found that to best express his anger he should remain quiet and just ignore her. The prospect seemed pretty efficient, but it usually didn't work out the way he intends.

Luckily, since Hange seemingly had guests, she took her time to entertain them with her shitty apartment rather than bother him, and the short man tuned her out in turn of finishing the damn dishes already because, damnit, this pile did not seem to be getting smaller.

"Can I help?"

Levi's eyes widened minisculely when he realized that someone was right next to him and barely kept himself from visually starting. His hands stopped their laboring task to look to the side and up (God, how Levi hated that he had to look up to see this kid's face) so that he could read Eren's expression because it was pretty hard to tell whether or not he was being serious.

Once Levi established that yes, Eren was actually offering to help Levi clean, he realized that he was only offering because he didn't know what he was trying to get himself into.

Eren had begun to fidget under the older man's penetrating gaze, uncomfortable at the lack of an answer. Levi's response didn't make him feel any more at ease.

"I don't think you can handle it, kid."

Eren's eyebrows crinkled, uncertain. "What do you mean? It's just the dishes..."

Levi almost wanted to laugh. Just the dishes? Just the dishes? More like a way of life. As in, you don't do your dishes right, your whole life is fucked up. And this rule doesn't just apply to the dishes, obviously, and Levi wasn't particularly invested in cleaning the dishes (rather than cleaning everything), but that didn't make this any less important.

"I highly suggest you don't volunteer yourself for this."

Levi could decipher Eren's decision before he announced it through his hardening expression (the kid was still an open book).

"I want to help with the dishes."

A sadistic smirk spread across Levi's face that had Eren immediately regretting his decision.

* * *

"Hurry the fuck up, I'm not even close to being done."

"Don't rush me, I'm new to this!"

"What, to doing a good job? Do it faster. And better."

"Okay, fine. Calm down, you're so tense."

"I'm always tense. Oh my god, do I have to do everything? Stop being a fucking pussy and _get it off_."

"I'm trying as hard as I - _ow_! Levi, you're too harsh!"

"I'm not harsh, you're just doing a terrible job and I have to show you like some goddamn kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

"Then stop acting like one, brat."

"I'm not a brat!"

"My point exactly."

Eren's face flushed a bit redder as Levi continued to irritate him. His hands were rubbed an agitated pink from both the scrubbing and the dish soap. Next to him, Levi looked just as annoyed, if not more so (because Levi always that certain aura that made one reconsider their effect others) by the piss-poor job the alleged aged adult was doing of the dishes he signed himself up for.

Eren let out a harsh sigh. "I wish this was over already."

"Hey, don't blame me. This is Hange's stash, not mine."

Eren's eyes flared. "Then why the hell are we washing the dishes?!"

Normally, Levi's expression would be unamused, but seeing as he was desperately trying to contain his riled emotions his eyebrow twitched and the muscles in his arms clenched as he attempted to contain himself. "Oi. Calm the fuck down. I'm the one who tried to talk you out of this shit."

"Then let me stop already!"

"Fuck if I'm letting you get away that easily. You committed to this, you peice of shit."

"Levi, Eren? Why don't you two just take a break for a bit?" Levi could hear all too clearly as Hange completely bashed Armin's idea as she explained passionately that once Levi caught someone in his web, there was no hope for escape.

"Make it sound a little more dramatic, geez," Levi complained dryly.

"It's true," Eren announced, eyes infuriated as always. "You haven't let me leave for the past half an hour. My hands are going to fall off soon."

Levi rolled his eyes, but even he agreed that the dishes were just getting ridiculous at that point. There were a few seconds of no sound from either and the constant chatter from the dining table behind them, filling the room along with the clanking of dishes.

Levi took another dish from Eren and proceeded to wash before playing it on a drying rack with the others. Finally, he sighed, saying, "Fine, go run off. You're done."

A smile broke out onto his face like a contagious disease. "Really? Fucking _finally_!" Levi just ignored the kid as he wiped his hands off on his jeans (disgusting) and hobbled over to the living/dining room, joining the others. Levi, however, didn't leave his post.

Eventually, the focus Levi had on the repetitive movements of picking a dish, soaking it, scrubbing it, possibly scrubbing it some more, and setting it down on a spot next to a slowly (_agonizingly _slowly) dwindling pile of dishes had him spacing out harder than normal for him. No audio processed in his brain, and there was a pleasant, muted white noise canceling everything out until that, too, was gone.

Christ, he was so tired. The day was still Saturday, and Levi needed a nice evening tea. And then a second, probably, and then to lay on his bed doing nothing productive until sleep finally came hard enough for him to fall asleep.

What time was it? Nine? He had slept until eleven that morning, so he wasn't _tired_, necessarily, but he'd just had this strange headache that Levi couldn't recall the beginning of. One moment he just realized that it was there.

Well. The day had been an eventful one. Maybe Levi's introverted tendencies were finally coming back to bite him in the ass.

"Levi?"

Said man nearly jumped out of his skin when he was suddenly snapped back to the senses of reality at the sound of his name being called directly behind him.

"Holy fucking shit, Eren. Don't sneak up on people or you'll get killed."

Eren actually looks a little taken aback by Levi's reaction, if that… wait, why the fuck was he blushing? His eyes purposefully avoided Levi's judgemental look as Eren's eyes wandered around the room. "You're taking forever, so… I came back to help?"

Levi was a little amused at Eren's flustered being. It didn't show in his expression, of course. "You don't sound so sure about that." He didn't pause to wait for an answer as he grabbed a sponge and shoved it towards the boy. "Take over washing, my hands are about to fall off."

* * *

**[Edit: Did ANYONE notice all the innuendos with the dishes because no one said shit about them and i thought it was hilarious js. Also, this A/N is long as fuck. Honestly, don't bother reading it.]**

**Oops**

**Like two days ago I got an email it was like "someone followed yr story" and I was like "oh damn how the fuck did they find that it must have been buried" because it's literally been seven weeks since I've updated this shit.**

**And what the fuck, people actually still are following this.**

**So many people are just going to short circuit and wonder what the hell this story is because they forgot about it. I would have forgotten. This story isn't that memorable, not that I'm trying to make it super original or anything (because let's be real here, this isn't original for shit, it's just a fluff fest). You probably didn't notice but my author's note is v different because I'm tired. It's only eleven but I was up at eight and I'm deprived from school but while I was dozing off with my 3DS falling onto my face I decided that I was going to haul my ass out and uploading ****_something _****because everything was just getting ridiculous. Still is, but. You know.**

**So, before, my must-have for every chapter was 2000 words (this got into the 1400s), and I was getting there and I had the rest of the chapter planned out with some more backstory-ish info on Levi (be warned that no bad childhoods exist in this story, ****_I am telling you that this is 100% fluff run while you can_****) and some more giggles and bonding but then six weeks passed and everything turned to shit okay. Just. I'm sorry.**

**So. School. I got into a very rigorous program and the homework is a fucking PAIN and when I'm not doing homework I swear to God that all of my energy has been drained and on the weekends my brain shuts down and it's hard to think but oops guess what I have homework on the weekends (like six+ hours) so that is just spectacular. Amazing. Swell. Dandy. *into megaphone* Outright fucking bullsh-**

**But yes, here is a chapter. I'm sorry, I know that it's crap, and I just want to pass out so I probably did shit on the proofreading but I can't**

**As always, I encourage genuine feedback. If something is bad, if someone is out of character, if a grammatical error is bothering you, just hit me up with a review or PM and I'll get that shit dealt with. You probably couldn't offend me if you tried, so don't worry about saying anything rude. Unless, you know, it's just a bad thing to say. I'll let you be the judge where exactly that line stands. **

**Finally, since I obviously don't have as much time to do shit, I'll be focussing a bit more on oneshots because for me they're easier to write and I'll be able to upload more frequently (even if not with this story). I'll probably get into the groove of this soon, so hang out for a little bit longer pls**

**Thanks for reading c:**


	4. College Ramblings

Just because Levi was used to Hange's constant verbal diarrhea didn't mean he wasn't annoyed by it anymore. Rather than listen, Levi rubbed his now-dry finger pads together. That was exactly why Levi owned the dish detergent that doesn't give you this calloused bullshit.

The raven-haired man was honestly bored out of his fucking mind. Sitting around Hange's table with shitty four-eyes, shitty green-eyes, shitty green-eyes' friend who needed to learn how to stop glaring at everyone, and shitty green-eyes' other friend who needs to get a proper haircut—this was _not _where he wanted to be. And his opinion wasn't some fucking secret; he had outright denied the event from the very beginning. Those kinds of experiences are the ones that keep him from turning into a big softie and just going along with whatever bullshit Hange had in store for that day.

He watched her animated face continually light up as she wildly waved her hands around to explain a story and wished he was somewhere else entirely. Even washing the dishes was better than this because at least he was in his element. Being forced to sit through another one of Hange's story times, because he obviously still hadn't had enough, was—and he could not stress this enough—_boring him out of his fucking mind_.

During part of the conversation, Levi's eyes just sort of slipped over to the brat and kind of stayed there. Now that the initial shock of the kid's eyes was finally wearing off, the rest of his face was catching his attention more and more. It was strange; Levi had never been one for childish features, and if he didn't pay it too much attention the guy didn't look like much of an eye-catcher, but… damn. Just everything, from the messy hair to the giant eyes and those lips that constantly morphed along with his emotions, whether it be a scowl, a quirk, or one of those famously blinding smiles.

All of it completely captivated Levi, and the first day he met the kid was a blur. He remembered smiling a lot, which actually made him feel like a fucking idiot thinking back on it. And then he just wandered into the bar with Eren like some love-struck teenager.

_Fuck_, Levi thought as the weight of everything finally settled down on him. He realized that his actions sounded like something he would never do, ever, and something he had never done before, ever. He realized that he's slipping out of his normal routine and wandering over to forbidden places.

And then he realized he was developing a fucking infatuation for this shit.

Okay, no. Levi was a full grown fucking _man_, not some twelve year old who's listened to one too many Justin Timberlake songs.

But he was still staring at Eren (although more "through" than "at" him) so he noticed when those pink lips started to move.

"How do you know so much about this stuff?" he asked. What stuff? How hard was Levi zoning out? He was before, but he was willing himself to, so that was different. Now he did it on accident while surrounded by other people and Levi was just stressing himself out at this point, he needed to go somewhere to breathe. He needed to fucking _leave_, he'd been there long enough and it was time to go except that Hange decided to open her fucking mouth another time.

"You didn't know? I didn't tell you? Oh my God, I used to be in a band in college"—Hange gestured from Levi to Petra to Erwin to Mike—"with them!"

There was complete silence from Eren's end of the table.

Levi took it as his queue to get that breath of fresh air he was hoping for.

"Where are you going?" Hange whined. "You need to at least tell the story of how you and Petra met!"

Levi gave her a glare that would have killed the average man. "Let Petra tell that shit," he snapped. "I've been here long enough and I'm leaving." His head was still spinning a little from his earlier revelation.

Hange didn't say anything in response and Levi seized up when he realized that the piece of shit could actually tell something was wrong. He could tell, when her eyebrows pulled together and the corners of her mouth turned down, that when she opened her mouth she was about to ask about what was wrong, so he slapped his hand over her disgusting mouth before she could do something stupid.

Tone carrying layers of underlying meanings and warnings, he scolded, "Shut the fuck up." Her expression changed mischievous and he snatched his hand back before she could lick it. Levi glanced at his watch and held in a sigh. "Ten minutes," he promised.

From the morphing expressions from those who had known him longer, everyone was starting to tell that something was up. He pushed it along before it could go any further. "Alright, Hange, just tell the fucking story already."

For once she got the hint and moved on her merry way, clapping her hands together and attempting to look everyone in the eye at once. "Okay, so on Fridays we would take requests if—no, I should start over. So originally the band was Erwin, Levi, Mike, and I, with Erwin on the base, Mike on the drums, Levi doing the vocals, and me doing the guitar." Levi idly thought that Hange's guitar playing wasn't exactly top notch, but he probably only thought that because she doesn't seem like the type to be good at a musical instrument.

"Levi was on vocals?" Levi looked up from his glass of water to Eren, who had asked.

"Is it that hard to believe, brat?"

The kid's face began to flush and _shit_, that was distracting. "N-No, I just—" The green-eyed shit shook his head, cutting himself off, and his gaze flitted away from Levi. Said man put his attention back on his drink.

"Petra, do you want to tell the story, actually?" Hange asked, oblivious to the other conversation.

Her hair fell in front of her face, as if a curtain, but Levi and all of the older friends knew her well enough that she was blushing. "I, uhm, don't remember that much, honestly." She looked up in a panic to Armin—why the hell she chose to look at Armin, Levi had no idea—and distressed, "I wasn't drunk, honestly! I just… I was sixteen, and Levi… he…"

Mike hummed from beside her. "I think you've lost them, Petra."

Hange's smile covered up half of her face at this point. "I already knew all that, I just wanted to embarrass you." Petra sank further into herself. "Anyways! When Levi was in a better mood than usual and we had some extra time for some reason, which was usually on Saturdays because they ran the latest, we would take requests on what songs to play, although half the time Levi would deny it anyways.

"So he gets to Petra, who's about to pop a shoulder trying to get his attention, he asks what song she wants, and she kisses him!" Hange breaks out into laughter, joined by Erwin and Mike as they recalled the memory. "Full on the mouth!" Even Eren's friend who plays in the band with him—or maybe they both do? Whatever, the one with the black hair—was seemingly interested in the story. Eren had a pretty strange expression that Levi, for once, had no idea how to decipher. Awe-struck? Terrified? Even his eyes were a clash of different emotions.

"Petra pulled back and froze, absolutely _horrified_, and Levi just—" Hange had to take a break to get her composure back. "Levi just—he just—he just stared at her, completely unfazed for a few seconds and then the crowd starts shouting all these different things, like, 'don't touch Levi' and, 'go get it' and some wolf whistles and all of that. And then…" Hange cracks up again, and even Levi smirks a bit remembering. "He just walks away and moves on to the next person!"

"It was terrible," sounded Petra's voice, muffled from shoving her face in her hands and the maniacal laughter coming from the body next to her. "I couldn't look anyone in the eye for a week."

"It's not like it was the first time," Levi input. That shit happened a handful of times, and another handful of times with guys.

"Yeah, the guys really liked you," Hange said, following the same train of thought. "I think it's because you were short and wore makeup. And because it was the nineties."

Levi's eyebrow twitched. The fact that Levi used to wear leather, eye-liner, and black nail polish on a daily basis was no one's business. He had looked fucking good.

"But anyways," Hange cooed, clapping her hands together, "That's how we got our rhythm guitarist and second set of vocals!"

There was a beat of silence before Armin timidly commented, "I feel like you skipped a few steps." The voices of others became jumbled and blurred together as Levi instead chose to focus on an annoying, blazing stain on Hange's otherwise white(ish) walls. Uninterested, his body began to relax as he purposefully zoned out of the conversation.

Something was itching at the back of his mind for him to leave, and when he glanced down to find Eren and his green eyes looking right back, he remembered exactly what it was.

He debated just getting up and walking out without saying a word, but Levi figured that Hange would hunt him down if he did that, so he instead tapped Hange's shin with his foot under the table, effectively getting her attention as Armin and Erwin had an avid back-and-forth about Erwin's work position.

Before Hange could open her mouth to ask, Levi stated, "I'm going to leave."

Hange blinked and opened her mouth but was effectively silenced by Levi's blank expression. What she could see behind it, he would never know, but he was extremely thankful that she didn't make a scene out of it and simply dismissed him with a nod and a close-mouthed smile. He could feel Eren's eyes on him as he got up from the table, taking his cup to rinse and put in the dishwasher, but chose to ignore it. Quickly putting away his glass, he discreetly made his way out of the loft and into the chilled evening air.

As soon as he shut the door behind him in his car, he got a sharp craving for some tea.

* * *

**you: *sniff* Something smells like plot.**

**me: Well, it was plot giving off that scent.**

**But, for realizies. Plot n' shit. I can honestly say that I was not planning for this to happen at all. I was rereading the first chapter and thought, "Levi is really OOC, shit" and then realized Levi would be thinking the same thing and this was born. (Sorry for the nonexistant amount of fluff. I was originally going to put in another five hundred words or so at the end of Eren and Levi communication, but then an opportunity didn't open up that I could see. Before I forget, the next chapter will probably feature office!Levi so look forward to that.)**

**I can't believe that it took me so long to do this again, but, hey... Honestly, I'm just glad that you guys are taking it as it is, at least so far. And I keep forgetting to say this, but I really appreciate all of your reviews. Even just a word or two is reminding me that people are reading this, and with that at the forefront of my mind, I start to feel a sort of obligation to upload. But, in a good way. I don't respond to every review because I feel awkward and don't know what to say, but if you just want to talk then feel free to hit me up on a PM. We can have a nice chat.**

**Another thing - if you are suddenly struck by a bolt of inspiration, don't be shy to tell me so - I will take absolutely zero offense, and I know that if I'm reading something and think a thing up, I _have_ to share it. So, feel free! Also, please tell me if you see any errors. I hold my works up to such high grammatical and editorial standars and when I see a mistake I want to punch myself.**

**As always, thanks for reading! And for those of you who actually read my ramblings, I love you especially. Just saying.**


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